Ending off Women’s month in South Africa, women business owners met on Monday and Tuesday morning, 28th and 29th August 2017, at the Newtown ABSA Enterprise Development Centre and the Jozi SME Hub in Soweto respectively, for a one-day Enterprise Development Seminar hosted by ABSA Business Banking. The seminars were hosted by Charlton Thangalan, Provincial Manager: Enterprise Development, ABSA Business Banking Gauteng South and Keketso Temane, ‎Enterprise Development Consultant at Barclays Africa Group Limited, for women business owners affiliated with WEConnect International in South Africa. The seminar covered topics such as Key Steps in Forecasting; Steps in Forecasting and A Case Study; How to Compile a Winning Budget and Forecast and Basics of Digital Marketing.

Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO and co-founder of WEConnect International opened the seminars with an introduction to the organisation. Elizabeth encouraged women business owners to expand their horizons and detailed how WEConnect can assist to accelerating business growth with the purchasing power of its global corporate members.

SMEs, are essential to the economic health of the country. According to the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), 72% of micro-enterprises and 40% of small enterprises are currently owned by women. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the emerging topic of business financing has top priority for our budding entrepreneurs.

Representing The BizLab Bashir Khan, Raksha Makhan and Lerato Mothopeng covered the topics of budgeting and forecasting to equip women business owners with decision-making techniques, notably differentiating budgeting, which lays out a plan for where a business wants to go, and financial forecasting, indicating where the business future prospects lie.

With 66 attendees, a crowd favourite, Basics of Digital Marketing, equipped women with the essential knowledge needed to establish an effective online presence with the purpose of marketing their business to a wider online audience. ABSA Bank Limited (ABSA) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Barclays Africa Group. Offering a range of retail, business, corporate and investment banking, wealth management products and services primarily in South Africa and Africa. Barclays is a WEConnect International global corporate member.